AVIATION ARTICLES

Crews should follow company approved emergency procedures and manufacturers guidance regarding the conduct of the flight, management of aircraft systems, identification of the source of a suspected fire, and fire fighting.

This article considers some airmanship aspects that are applicable to all aircraft and situations.

Protection

At the first indication, or suspicion, of smoke and fumes, or a fire within the aircraft, the flight crew should don smoke goggles and oxygen masks. Goggles and masks need to fit tightly and 100% Oxygen with overpressure selected to minimize any ingress of smoke and fumes into the mask. It is important that the whole crew is completely familiar with operating both the oxygen and intercom functions of their protective equipment.

Unless smoke and fumes are clearly present on the flight deck, the captain may decide, in order to maintain communication with the cabin crew, to delay fitting his own mask until the co-pilot has donned his protective equipment and is in a position to take control of the aircraft.

Consider landing ASAP

Plan for Immediate Descent and Landing

Many smoke and fire warnings turn out to be spurious. Passengers and cabin crew reporting unusual smells and fumes, may be inclined to downplay the situation for fear of embarrassment if they are wrong. Fire/smoke warnings and reports of smoke or fumes should be taken seriously until there is confirmation that the warnings are false. If it is a real fire, then a flight crew may not have very long to deal with the situation - time is critical.

The crew should commence descent immediately and begin planning for an emergency landing. An emergency should be declared and ATC told that the aircraft is in descent. In a high traffic area, when there may be a number of aircraft in close proximity, it would be a good idea to declare the emergency and ask for descent and vectors to the closest airfield before descending. However, if that clearance is not immediately forthcoming, descend without it. Putting an aircraft on the ground within 15 minutes of a fire being detected is a challenge if you are at cruising altitude in a modern passenger jet - for example, descent at maximum speed and full drag will still take more than 5 minutes from cruise altitude to sea-level in an A320 - so any delay to start a descent may prove fatal.

Fight the Fire

While the requirement is to land the aircraft as soon as possible, the crew need to do all that they can to isolate and control the fire. The FAA Advisory Circular 120-80A (see Further Reading) uses the phrase “aggressively pursue” to describe the urgency with which cabin crew need to locate the source of the fire and attack it using all available resources, which may include deadheading crew members and passengers. Crews should follow Company procedures for fighting an in-flight fire.

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